The past, the present, and the future
by kennyr13
Summary: Nine months after broken steel. A reluctant Initiate joins the eccentric Lone wanderer while they investigate rumors of an Enclave resurgence.


It was a quiet night in the capital wasteland. In the days before the war people would just be getting off work and getting home for dinner. Or they would be sitting down in front of the television for their favorite programs. This particular area once belonged to a family known as the Robinson family, or at least according the the light writing on what was once their mailbox. The most noticeable thing in the front yard was a deteriorating swing set and a slide which was missing a large chunk out of the middle. Like every other building in the wasteland every window was blown out or except for the front ones which were boarded up. Inside the layout of the house was fairly typical for that era in DC. In the living room there was a couch with several holes in it, a television with a large crack from the top right corner from the bottom left corner, and a table in front of the couch with two books that had long been illegible. In the kitchen sat a table, a few chairs, and the rest of the normal appliances found in a pre war home. The entire upstairs was collapsed, except for one small room in in the remnants of the attic.

In this room a figure crouched with binoculars close up to his face and a DKS-501 sniper rifle propped up on a bed frame which was missing a mattress. He scanned the area and marked several landmarks to use for range finding purposes via buttons on it. 50 yards- dead forked tree next to picnic table. 75 yards- old playground 100 yards plus- old general store. He slowly moved his hand down to his backpack, which was sitting down beside him next to the window. He came back with a bottle of aqua pura and a small cord which he proceeded to plug into his binoculars then the scope on his DKS. He sighed and sat down with his back to the wasteland then opened the bottle. He took a long drink then stealthily went to a crouched stance with the DKS nearby where he could reach it easily just in case. He waited with his binoculars giving him a vantage point over the entire area.

He sat for what seemed like hours doing this pausing only to take a drink every now and then. He was beginning the question the credibility of his intelligence when a buzzing sound was heard in the distance. It was a sound the lone wanderer had heard many times in the past year since the Enclave had shown up in the Capital wasteland. It was the sound of a vertibird entering his area. Soon the sound grew louder and it was confirmed, the Enclave had yet another patrol being dropped in.

He sighed and took another swig as the all to familiar sound of a Vertibird grew louder. The lone wanderer couldn't help but wonder why the Enclave still had troops coming in. He shared the views of some members of the brotherhood that the Enclave must still have one more large stronghold in the area. Rothchild and Lyons of course refused to believe that and it didn't do much good for morale when you mentioned it so it was an unspoken fact around the Citadel. With the pride gone on a recovery mission about a hundred miles from the Capital to get a part for the Liberty Prime restoration it had fallen under the Lone wanderer's duty to investigate rumors of this patrol that had been arriving from Big town, which was about three miles away from the LW's current position. It had been a brief investigation before he had pinpointed this location and set up an observation post. Now here he was about to eliminate yet another Enclave patrol.

He followed the Vertibird until it touched down near the 100 yard marker. In a matter of minutes five Enclave troopers, two hellfire troopers, and an officer appeared with three large Enclave crates and a computer terminal. The lone wanderer observed while they set up a desk, a small tent, and created a barrier out of the crates. Now he had a choice to make: he could either try to take out all of them while they went out on patrol, hit them all at once with a big one man attack, or go shock and awe with an airstrike from one of the many satellites that the brotherhood had seized control of. However he didn't have to think long because the troopers made the decision to go on patrol, leaving the officer alone at his terminal. Nonchalantly he picked his stuff up and slipped on a modified stealth boy which he had been given on a trip to the Institute up in the commonwealth. He walked into a bathroom and stashed his food and water. Then he pulled his hood up on the sweatshirt he was wearing and watched himself turn invisible.

The Lone wanderer proceed toward the small camp with stealthily precision. He had in a small satchel around his neck four frag mines, a black .44 magnum, and a couple extra clips for his DKS. He got close to the officer, who was hard at work on the terminal and silently drew a scary looking black knife. With great skill and precision he plunged the knife into the officer's neck covering his mouth as he did this. He slit the officer's throat and in a matter of seconds he had bled out. Then after fiddling with his pip-boy for a moment the frag mines he had set up around the camp were armed. Then, almost lazily he raised the magnum into the air and fired one shot. Then the rest was done for him: The two Hellfire troopers were killed while running up the right flank, a trooper was blown apart when he stepped on a frag mine. The shock from the explosions knocked two away but the LW wasn't sure whether or not they were dead. The other two mines took care of the rest of the troopers and in a matter of three minutes they were all dead except one. The lone wanderer deactivated his stealth field and walked up to the wounded soldier who was lazily crawling toward his laser pistol. He walked up and kicked the weapon out of the trooper's reach. He drew the magnum and noticed the trooper had deactivated his helmet. He reached up and took his helmet off revealing the face of an ignorant Enclave enthusiast.

"How little you know you little worm the Enclave will rise again."

The LW yawned, "This is boring me."

Then he raised the magnum and fired two shots into the trooper's face. He then raised his pip-boy and entered the phone option which directed him to the intercom in paladin Tristan's office.

A cold voice was heard on the other end, "Tristan speaking."

The lone wanderer spoke next, "This is Knight Captain Evan Roberson my mission is complete I'd like extraction now in the area north of Big Town"

Tristan responded, "Ok pop one of your flares and we should have a pilot at your area in the next ten minutes. We will also launch a recovery team from the Citadel to scav the remains of that Enclave patrol you just destroyed."

"OK over and out I'll be in tomorrow morning with my report around 8."

Evan pulled out a flare and threw it out over in the yard of the house. Soon the air had filled with red smoke signifying that he was ready for extraction. He then pulled out a cigarette and proceeded to smoke it while waiting on his ride. He climbed up on a nearby boulder and reflected until he heard the propellers of the Vertibird painted a deary gray color with Red writing signifying that it was a brotherhood transport vehicle. The vehicle landed along with a squad of knights who were quick to jump out sweeping their weapons in a menacing manner. Evan laughed at this and boarded the Vertibird after saying muttering something about the knights being a little late.

The ride back to the Citadel and Evan fell asleep almost as soon as his head the pillow in the Den. His dreams were filled with explosive mole rat grenades and then some thing odd, in almost a slide show patterns different poker cards with faces of men in trench coats and people with Dog head helmets. In this dream he walked up to the Dog head man and then shattered into a million pieces when he looked him in the eye.

Evan woke up with a jolt and looked at his pip-boy, _five thirty in the morning_. Evan sighed and stood up noting that the Den was still empty; Sarah and the rest of the Pride must have not returned yet. He pulled on a sweatshirt and a pair of cargo shorts. Not anticipating any combat he just grabbed his .44 magnum and a knife. His first stop was the kitchen where he enjoyed an early breakfast of iguana bits and a Nuka-Cola Quantum. He flinched as he swallowed the harsh drink, honestly he hated it thinking it tasted very similar to irradiated Brahmin milk, but the pride loved that stuff so he just choked it down.

Then it was off to the Bailey for his morning workout. He walked up and found a spot out of the way and started with fifty situps and one hundred push ups. Then he jogged ten laps around the Bailey as the initiates began their regular drills for the morning. Soon the once silent air was now filled with Initiates doing pushups and target practice. Evan just put his head down and kept jogging. He was in mid jog when he heard his name being called. He looked up to see Paladin Gunny in front of him with an Initiate standing close by.

"Evan how are you doing this morning?"

Evan nodded, there was a mutual dislike between them because Gunny didn't think Evan deserved to wear power armor although he had trained him under Lyons orders.

"I have an Initiate here that needs a sparring partner and I see you're unaccompanied this morning."

Evan sighed, "Yeah I guess I'll do it."

Gunny smirked, "Good I'll get the gloves."

Evan walked up to the nervous Initiate, "So how far along are you kid?"

The Initiate shuddered and finally answered, "Six months until I'm a knight."

Evan read his holotag aloud, "Initiate Alexander Wright, 16 years."

The Initiate felt fear at the man known as the lone wanderer that was now standing face to face with him.

Evan gave him a look of both annoyance and understanding, "Kid you can't be intimated by me. I die just like everyone else." He noticed the pistol on his hip, "If you stuck that gun to my chest right now and pulled the trigger I would die like anyone else. No one is invincible and the only place I have to go is down. So don't get discouraged if I beat you because one day because I'll most likely die by some wasteland asshole who gets the jump on me. Someone with less experience than you."

Initiate Wright looked solemn, "But you're..."

He was interrupted by Paladin Gunny, "Damn Initiate you should be in the ring by now."

He apologized and walked away with a puzzled look. Gunny then walked up and spoke to Evan, "Poor kid I'm trying to convince him to drop out, he won't do shit as a knight and I don't wanna pick the kid's body up off the street."

Evan grew angry, "He's a good soldier, and if you drop him I'll just pick him up."

With that Evan snatched the gloves from Gunny and marched toward the ring. Minutes later they were in the ring standing face to face. Evan had put his weapons on a nearby bench as a small crowd gathered to watch the Lone wanderer in action. Evan nodded at Wright to signal that he was defending first. Evan threw his hands up and threw a jab to the chest hitting a lower rib followed by a round house kick to the face and a hard take down much to the crowd's amusement. He then put his guard up and nodded again. He noted that the initiate had a large gash by his temple presumably from either the kick or the take down. Alexander threw a hook to the right side of Evan's body which he dodged and countered with a devastating kick to the body. Alex responded with quick kick to the shin which made Evan stumble. Alex was a little hesitant and Evan had recovered by the time he went for the take down. He ducked into the take down and threw Alex over his right shoulder. A surge of pain overtook Evan's body shortly after as he noticed he had tweaked his back as he did this. Alex took advantage of this and did a devastating combo which ended with the Lone wanderer lying down in the dirt and Alex standing over him with a triumphant grin on his face.

Evan stood up clutching his back, then he shook the Initiate's hand and walked out of the ring with a surprised look on his face.


End file.
